TOWN recently grabbed a seat at Lefty’s for an interview with Executive Chef Rodney Freidank, who’s been a cornerstone of Greenville’s culinary scene since Table 301’s inception in 1997. Originally from Long Island, New York, Chef Freidank’s foray into the culinary world wasn’t guaranteed. He first pursued music education while working in New York delis.
A family-run restaurant venture in North Carolina was a trial by fire, but that didn’t burn him out on honing his craft under seasoned chefs. When Freidank ended up in Greenville, a job in a restaurant owned by Carl Sobocinski and other partners turned into a career-defining opportunity. Today, the affable chef is devoted to making excellent food served with genuine care and attention to detail at Lefty’s.
Lefty’s Q&A
TOWN: Chef, you’ve now been with Table 301 for 28 years. What does that group do differently?
Rodney Freidank: The reason we rebranded to Table 301 Hospitality is because Carl understands what a lot of us took a long time to learn. It’s about the interactions with people, and it’s about hospitality. It’s the way you make somebody feel when they come in—you dote on them, take care of them, and give them the experience they were hoping for. I mean, you’re probably not coming if the food’s not good. It’s still my passion to make the food better than good.
What inspired Lefty’s?
Table 301 wasn’t thinking about doing a sports bar. The owner of the Greenville Drive, Craig Brown, contacted Carl and said he’d love to have a great partner in this space. We don’t have anything like this in our whole portfolio. Matching the way the Greenville Drive thinks about hospitality, we were all in.
Lefty is described as “if Sam Malone from Cheers and Bogie from Casablanca merged.” Is Lefty a real person?
Table 301 got together with the marketing/branding company for the Greenville Drive, and they came up with Lefty. Just so happens that I am a lefty!
Once you commit, the next thing is deciding what’s on the menu, right?
Right. I look at this food like . . . this is the food we all secretly, or not secretly, want to eat.
The Lefty’s website calls it “elevated comfort food.”
I always worry about that word ‘elevated.’ It’s actually ‘done well.’ It’s thoughtful. We care about everything—whether that french fry goes out crisp, whether it’s salted right. We care about the smash burger, whether it has the right mouthfeel, and that crust that’s supposed to be on it.
How did you learn the best way to make a smash burger?
I make a list of places where somebody has said, ‘They have a good smash burger.’ I go to those places and eat one. Even if it’s really good, I say, ‘What can I do to make mine a little better?’ It comes down to a couple of things. It’s the ingredients you choose. And then, there’s the care about the execution.
Do you have a favorite dish on the menu?
I’ll be honest. The one I researched the most because I cared the least about it was the nachos. Everybody has nachos. But then, I thought of all these creative ways to do nachos . . . we make the sauce; we roast the corn. We do the chef’s version of regular bar food. Not fancier. Just done from scratch, fresh, and with more care going in.
You serve a snack called “Buy me some Peanuts and Cracker Jacks.” Is that what it sounds like?
We make homemade Cracker Jacks. There’s a prize in every one. Sometimes, there’s actually a prize worth some money. It’s hard not to play into baseball when we’re this close to the Greenville Drive [home field], but I also want to be careful because we’re not just a baseball bar. We’re a sports bar. Whatever big sporting events are on for the day should be on our TVs.
How do you want people to feel when they come in here?
I would like them to feel very welcome. And, I can tell you, you don’t feel that way everywhere you go. Our goal here is that the staff cares about the guests and takes care of them. The whole team is there for them. The other thing that’s important to me is that this is a great place to work; we care about our team.
Lefty’s West End Tavern, 941 S. Main St., Greenville, leftysgvl.com
Chef’s Pick: the 500 Club
For a taste of something you might not expect to be an MVP, Chef recommends trying the 500 Club. Thinly sliced turkey, cheddar, ham, Swiss, pecan-smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato, and Duke’s mayo on toast. “I take a bite of the club sandwich . . . and I’m like, ‘That’s the best club sandwich I ever had,’” says Freidank, who meticulously sources each ingredient from the highest quality options. Of course, it’s the premium bacon that knocks it out of the park.
